A quick guide to creating an effective survey

Customer satisfaction surveys are commonplace in the modern retail environment because knowing your customer's thoughts is invaluable. Knowledge is power after all.

But there’s another type of survey that can help your business with its strategic planning. Surveys that focus on learning more about your customers in order to make meaningful, data-driven profiles can be an incredible asset when it comes to planning out high-level decision making.

When you know your customers, you are able to apply that knowledge to every aspect of your business operations, from your products and services to your marketing plans and growth projections. Information is power, and when customers share their information with you, they’re giving you the power to provide them with a better customer experience. So how do you go about creating a great survey and one that will generate the type of information you require?

Narrow down your data points

Keep your survey short. Different experts have different rules of thumb when it comes to this we recommend around 3 to 5 when using the SurveyMe app, but between five and ten questions is acceptable.

That means you need to make every question count. Ask your questions in a logical order, and favor ratings, multiple choice and check boxes over text fields. Customers usually prefer easy surveys that they can finish quickly.

The most important part of creating a survey is having a goal in mind for what you want to find out about your customers.

Think about what you already know about your customers. Their typical purchase amount, perhaps their address, their shopping dates and if you know what they like about your business. Once you’ve done that, you can then consider what data you'd use to build on what you already know.

Applying your newfound knowledge

Once you’ve collected your data and analyzed it, consider the many different ways in which it can be applied. You can use this data to make product development decisions—who should this product most appeal to, and what trends are popular with that demographic?

If you have more than one core customer group, you can consider creating different data sections for each group.

You can also use the information you’ve gathered from your customers to better reach out to them. For example, you might refine your brand message with your target demographic in mind. Maybe marketing to moms isn't your best strategy and marketing to millennials is the way to go moving forward.

You can also research to find out what media and platforms are used by this demographic. This allows you to focus your advertising efforts, improving your marketing ROI.

For more tips on creating a great survey, be sure to download our guide to the Best Survey Questions for Any Business Ebook below!